Ore-car



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

* J. V. ERIGSON.

ORE OAR.

No. 454,677. Patented June 23,1891.

Even w;

(No Mudel.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2. J. V. ERIGSON. ORE GAR.

No. 454,577. Patented June 23,1891.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. J. V. ERIOSON. ORE GAR.

No. 454,577. Patented June 23,1891.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN V. ERICSON, OF ESGANABA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO D. M. PlllLBI-N,

OF MARQUETTE, MICHIGAN.

ORE-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 45 4.577, dated June23, 1891.

Application filed March 3,1891. Serial No. 383,580- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN V. ERICSON, a citizen of the United States,residing at Escanaba, in the county of Delta and State of Michigan, haveinvented a new and useful Improvement in Ore-Cars, of which thefollowing is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in railroad-cars of the classparticularly adapted for carrying ores and provided with one or morehoppers having drop-doors to facilitate their unloading.

My object is to provide an ore car of an improved construct-ion whichwill render it particularly strong and durable, comparatively economicalto manufacture, and safe and convenient for the operators while loadingand unloading. My object is, further, to provide an orecar of aconstruction which will render it readily convertible into a gondola-caror a flat car.

Ore from certain of the large mining districts, notably those of theUpper Lake Region, is shipped from the mines by railroad and afterwardtransferred to boats, which take the ore to the market. As a consequencecomparatively little ore is conveyed by the railroads during the winterseason while navigation is closed, and the ore-cars as hithertoconstructed, being unadapted for other freight, are obliged for the mostpart to stand idle during several months of the year. In the wintermonths the largest shipments of the year of logs and lumber are made,which necessitates a greater number of fiat and gondola cars than isrequired at other seasons. B y providing a car which may be readilyconverted back and forth, as required, from a fiat or a gondola car toan orccar, a very material reduction over what has hitherto beenconsidered necessary (of the rolling-stock of certain railroads inparticular) may be made to fulfill all the requirements oftransportation with proportionate economy.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is atop plan view of an ore-car of my improvedconstruction and convertible into a gondola-car; Fig. 2, a similar Viewof the car with the hopper and one of the drop-door beams removed; Fig.3, a section taken on line 3 3 of Fig. 1 and unloading the car.

viewed in the direction of the arrows; Fig. i, a section taken on lineetof Fig. 1 and viewed as indicated by the arrow, but with one of theends of the hopper removed for purposes 5 5 of the illustration; Figs. 5and (3, perspective views, and Fig. 7 a broken perspective view,respectively, of details of the car shown in the above-named figures;Fig. 8, a broken cross-sectional view of an ore-car involving myimprovements and convertible into a flat car; Fig. 9, a broken top planview of one end of the car illustrated in Fig. 8; Fig. 10, a brokenlongitudinal section of the same; Fig.

11, a view in elevationof amodified construction of the removable endfloor, and Fig. 12 abroken view in elevation of the end portion of aremovable side floor.

A represents the floor or platform of the car, which is provided withone or more openings If, to which are fitted drop-doors 15. Thegondola-car has the usual side planks s and end planks r, the sideplanks being held in place by stakes q, inserted into stake-pockets q.The flat car differs from the goudolacar only in the absence therefromof the side and end planks. On the outer sides of the side planks s atthe upper edges of the latter are strips s,which thus widen the tops ofthe sides to render them more safe and convenient So for operators tostand upon while loading or The drop-door beams 0 on the gondolacar areprovided along their under sides with straps 0,which flange downward attheir end portions to pass through 8 sockets s in the strips 8, wherebythey may extend for a limited distance down the outer sides of theplanks s. The beams 0 are secured in place by tie-rods o fastened bynuts which extend across the car underneath hopper need extend from theedges of the I00 opening t only part way up the side planks 5. They areprovided at intervals upon their The hopper, which when in place o underside with triangular metal braces '11, which fit into the anglesafforded by the floor A and side planks s. The braces 11 have flangededges, through which they may be secured by nut-bolts to the side floorsand to the floor A, as shown. The end floors G extend from the edges ofthe opening 15 to the top of the side planks s and are of the shapeshown in Fig. 5 to fit at their edges closely over the side floors andagainst the side planks. Upon the backs of the end floors and extendingfrom topto bottom of the latter are socket-pieces m, closed at theirupper ends and provided with flanges, at which they are secured in placeupon the end floors. The end floors are braced by braces Z, which restupon the floor A and against the end planks 'r' and fit along theirinclined edges into the socket-pieces m. 1 'At opposite ends of the carare top planks 76, which rest upon the upper edges of the side and endplanks and the upper ends of the braces Z. The planks 7c are provided ontheir under sides near opposite ends with downward-projecting ears k,which extend through sockets s in the strips 8 a short distance down theouter sides of the planks s. The end floors C are secured in place bytie-rods m, fastened by bolts, the lower rods extending across the carthrough bolt-holes in the same line in the side planks, side floors,socket-pieces, and braces Z, and the top rods extending throughbolt-holes in the ears side planks, socket-pieces, and braces Z. Thustwo or three tie-rods at each end of the car operate to hold all theparts named firmly in place. I prefer to construct the hopper end andside floors of planks faced with metal plates, and the braces Z may beof wood strengthened at the corners with metal straps and held in fixedrelation by tie-rods Z as shown in Fig. 6.

The hoppers I provide for flat cars have side floors B, which extendfrom the openings 6 to the tops of the stakes q. The braces n extendhigher than those of the gondola-car and may be secured by bolts to theside floors and floor A. The braces 12. are placed only at the stakesagainst which they bear at their outer sides. The straps 0 of thedrop-door beams 0 may extend along the upper sides of the latter and areflanged at their end portions to extend a short distance down the outersurfaces of the stakes, each beam being held in place by a tie-rod 0which extends across the car through holes in the side floors, braces,stakes, and strap-flanges, as shown in Fig. 8. There being no end planksto flat cars, I prefer to employ hopper end floors and braces thereforof the construction shown in Figs. 10 and 11. The end floor shown inFig. 11 comprises a single plate of metal re-enforced along the underside by horizontallyextendingT-ironstripstandprovidedbetween andbelowthe re-enforcing-strips i with small stanchions or eye-pieces '6. On theside floors B are inclined plates 1' against which the end floors, restat their lateral edges and which are provided with recesses i asshowirin Fig. 12, to receive the ends of the re-enforcing strips z'. Theside and end floors are held firmly in place by tie-rods z, fastened bynuts, which extend across the hopper through the stanchions 2", plates1?, and side floors. The end floors also rest against braces Z, whichmaybe bolted to the floor A and further held in place by strips 72.,extending across the ends of the floor A. The strips h are usuallyprovided upon flat cars, especially when used for shipping logs, tofacilitate the loading and unloading of the logs,which thus rest uponthe strips h instead of the car-platform. The top planks f at oppositeends of the car are provided with downward-extending ears, (not shown,)which, like the flanges of the straps 0', extend a short distance downthe outer sides of the stakes. Tie-rods f extend across the car throughthe ears on the planks f, stakes, side floors, and braces 71. The sidefloors of the hopper upon theflat car, being less inclined than thoseprovided on the gondola-car, will not be subject to the same wear andthere is not the same necessity for their being metal-plated.

Constructed as described the parts of the hoppers when in place aresecured and braced in a manner to render them particularly strong, asrequired by the rough service to which they are subjected in use. Todisengage the hopper-floors from each other and the cars, it is onlynecessary to remove the nuts from the tie-rods and withdraw the latterand remove the nuts from the bolts which fasten the braces to the floorsA, when the hopper-floors may be taken separately from the cars andstored until again required. The

disposition of the tie-rods causes them to be out of the way, wherebythey. will not interfere with the loading and unloading of the car or bebent or broken by impact against them of the ore in the operation ofloading.

\Vhile the cars shown in the drawings are short cars provided each witha single hopper, long cars may be provided with two removable hoppers ofsubstantially the same construction as those described.

The top planks at the ends of the cars are a desirable feature, for thereason that they afford comparatively wide platforms for the operatorsto stand upon, whereby they may work with greater ease and less dangerof accident.

That I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A convertible car provided in its floor with a discharge-opening anddoor and a hopper removable from and replaceable upon the car,surrounding the said opening, substantially as described.

2. A convertible car provided in its floor with a discharge-opening anddoor, and a hopper surrounding the said opening formed in detachablesections which are removable from and replaceable upon the car,substantially as described.

3. In an ore-car, the combination, with the car platform provided withan opening through it and a drop-door at the opening, of a removable andreplaceablehopper upon the car about the said opening formed withremovable and replaceable side floors and end floors, and detachablesecuring means for holding the parts of the hopper together upon thecar, substantially as described.

4. In an ore-car, the combination, with the car platform provided withan opening through it and a drop-door at the opening, of a removable andreplaceable hopper upon the car about the said opening formed withremovable and replaceable side floors and end floors, removable andreplaceable braces interposed between the hopper-floors and platform,and detachable securin g means for holding the braces in place and theparts of the hopper together upon the car, substantially as described.

5. In an orecar, the combination, with the car platform provided with anopening through it and a drop-door at the opening, of a removable andreplaceable hopper upon the car about the said opening formed withremovable and replaceable side floors and end floors, removable andreplaceable top planks extending across the end portions of the car andhaving downWard-projecting ears, and detachable tie-rods extendingacross the ends of the hoppers and securing the side floors, end floors,and top planks together upon the car, substantially as described.

6. In an ore-car, the combination, with the car platform provided withan opening through it and a drop-door at the opening, of removable andreplaceable hopper side floors B, triangular braces n for the sidefloors, held in place by bolts, removable and replaceable hopper endfloors C, provided on their under sides with projections having holesthrough them for the passage of tie-rods, removable and replaceablebraces for the end floors, and securing means for holding the end floorbraces against independent movement when in position, and removabletie-rods extending across the ends of the hopper through the side floorsand the projections 011 the under sides of the end floors, substantiallyas and for the purpose set forth.

J OIIN V. ERICSON. In presence of- WALTER KITCHEN, W. L. BROWN.

